JBroadway said: "I genuinely apologize for making you feel condescended to, but really there is no shame in learning no matter how old you are, and no matter who is doing the teaching. Someone shouldn't have to be your parent or your teacher for you to try to learn from what they have to say. And someone trying to help you shouldn't be seen as them talking down to you, but I apologize if my wording amplified the sense of condescension.
But now that I've apologized - and I genuinely am sorry - please don't dismiss everything I said because of that one comment.
You make a good point about what people have been calling "burnout" - you're right that we frequently see movements like this make small changes, followed by people settling back into their old, harmful habits. That's definitely a concern. I've actually seen a lot of posts in my activist circles of people warning of exactly that phenomenon. And I'll say I'm guilty of it too - I'm really active when issues like this get raised, but then I get complacent when the buzz dies down. This is something that I have to work on, and we all have to work on. It seems to me that this time might be different though, only because (a) it's a larger movement and (b) people (in my circles at least) are already talking about ways to prevent "burnout" and make sure we don't forget about all this once it's no longer a "hot button topic." People are really trying to create lasting change this time, and if we can put the effort in, it's possible.
This statement is just one small piece of that. It isn't going to solve things by itself, but by it can create awareness of the work that needs to be done going forward.
For what it's worth, I agree that your original post shouldn't have been deleted, and I hope that you do respond to what I said point by point, so we can have a civil, productive discussion."
I apologize in turn. I like your posts. You are a thoughtful person.
I guess my problem is--you can't just demand things in an angry tone and get them. That's what that statement seemed to be doing, and what it seemed it was being cheered for doing. I expect young people to be all on board for that. I also know how it plays out. And frankly, it offends me. It's bullying and demeaning, and no writing addressed that way to anyone is going to get my approval. I don't take reduction of human dignity any less lightly that the people who composed the missive do.
As far as point-by point goes:
1. I totally agree with you here, so nothing to argue with.
2. There is a massive power imbalance, but it can't be demanded away. This is, of course, how systemic racism works. Because for centuries black people were barely allowed in theaters or on the stage, all the people with real power are white, and it's that much harder for black artists to get a foothold, even if people want them to have that foothold. Because the system was devised when racism called the shots. But there's no way to change that other than through the slow process of more people of color gaining more ground and they and white people helping more color of people in turn.
3. While the statement does point to real wrongs, by not specificying targets, it paints the theater as collectively in favor of these wrongs. This is honestly like some racist white guy deciding to judge all black people from the felons he's heard are in prison. And some of the arguments are just false. There is not, in today's theater, any cabal of whites keeping blacks out. Nor has "white theater" (again, what does that term even mean realistically?) been pretending to ignore black people. How can we look at all the black people cast in shows, playwrights having their work done, composers having their scores heard--and nominated--and winning Tonys--and say that blacks are being ignored? I mean you can hashtag OscarSoWhite, but you can't create that hashtag for Broadway if you're being at all honest.
4. This isn't broad awareness. It's paiting with a broad brush. In Chasing Amy, the faux militant black comic book artist points at what are actually his white friends and tells a young black child "They the devil." That's pretty much all is statement is accomplishing here. Because there is no distinction. And there are a lot of distinctions (which doesn't mean excuses or evasions) to be made.
5. Just not touching this one. Sure my message will be deleted if I do.
6. Imagine some white guy or organization, or heck any non-black person or organization saying "Black theater, I see what you're doing, and this stops now!" It would be unthinkable and blatantly racist. Because it would assume someone other that black theater members can speak to black experience or thought, and because it would assume all black people are identical rather than individuals. It would rob them of their humanity. That's just what this statement does.
For the record, I work both for and with and I teach far more minorities than I do whites. I work in the most racially diverse college in the United States (for real). I am acutely aware of the indignities and abuses minorities face, and I oppose them. I do my part to give my students what tools I can to more successfully oppose those indignities and abuses. But this faux Black Panthers/Nation of Islam rhetoric does not and will not work. It may feel great to read in print, feel empowering to people of color, and fell like a necessary check for (a few) liberal white people. But this sort of approach isn't what's going to get more black people in the theater.
Passions are high right now and people are letting off steam, often in unproductive ways. I guess I let off steam in an unproductive way here today as well. I don't want to see people of color winding up with white people going along for a bit of self-laceration, followed shortly by the realization: "Well I'm not really one of the bad guys." Followed by "I noted it. I wore the right colored ribbon to the cermony. I'm done."
That doesn't help people of color at all.
Updated On: 6/9/20 at 09:00 PM
